But, like several of you, my mom fell in, the mast hit her in the head, and she never tried windsurfing again.

This is a thing for woman I guess. My step-sister managed to get a blackeye from it. My wife nearly broke her glasses. Both never sailed afterward, altough I think my wife will go again. I was looking at her and I don't quite understand how she did it!

But I gotta wonder how many people have been hit in the eye, hard enough to destroy the eyeball and/or socket, by their own board nose, at speed, with the sail upright ... twice. Thank goodness for face shields.

For me, bad judgement on a big day in the early '90s on lake Ontario when the wind died. Instead of swimming back to the beach I decided to swim over to the large boulders that make up the edge of the bay. The waves pounded my gear into the rocks and in two waves, my board was in 2 pieces, my booms in 3, my mast in 3. I got out alive but I'll never under estimate the power of shore pound again. I knew things were serious when I heard the board break on the first wave.

Going out at Chapin for the first time in big swell and not knowing how to waterstart or Jybe or tack without falling. Was impressed with myself that I got out beyond the shorebreak, went out about a 1000 yards. Decided to try and tack, fell in, and tried to uphaul in 3-6 foot swell. Dragged my gear back, invovling an hour of swimming while watching 30 other windsurfers ripping it up having the time of their lives.

I was sooooooo buzzed on the high from getting in the footstraps, I didn't rush to learn waterstarting or jybing, which would have made life a LOT easier.

Still, the challenge of it all just made me fall in love with the sport even more!

Buying crappy equipment... repeatedly. New, used, didn't matter as long as it was cheap. Of course I ended up replacing all of it. I remember having a 7.2 UP (IIRC) sail at one point. It was the heaviest sail I have ever felt and surely made things worse. I also bought fiberglass masts with little to no carbon content. Terrible.

Oh yeah ... forgottabout the time I had just spun out as huge gusts tore through Swell City. Was trying to get my sinking board back under me when I felt a gentle tap on my lee calf. Turned to look upriver (downwind) to see who or what was there, and realized it was the bow splash of a barge and I was already beneath the bow, looking straight up at steel. (Friends on shore told me later that Bob Dill was sitting there announcing to the crowd that, "You're witnessing the first death of a windsurfer by a barge".) I shut out the barge and focused on my only hope: getting that fin hooked up, getting the sinker unsunk and planing, and getting the hell out of there. By the time I did, I could have extended my lee elbow and hit steel.

I learned to love slotted fins because they hook up well, and learned not only to look but to examine both directions before departure after EVERY jibe or water start, even if I'm in a pond and am the only watercraft within 20 miles. And I STILL miss seeing some dark barges against dark shorelines.

Sounds truly horrific Isobars. Heres a land bound one. After arriving at a friends house in Northern Wisconsin for along weekend hoping I might get in a few rides, I untied all the ropes holding my old f2 Comet Slalom to the roof of my truck. Left my keys in the truck in this private driveway. Went down to boathouse to see everyone and have a beer. About an hour later, another friend comes down and said he used my truck to go on a beer run. I asked if he took off the windsurfer and he looked at me quite puzzled when I told him it was untied. Apparently the thing stuck to the roof of the truck the whole way! He drove about 10 miles down the highway at 60 MPH! No ropes whatsoever. I used to travel with the bow upside down and facing forward. Last time I leave a windsurfer untied. Very lucky.

Sounds truly horrific Isobars. Heres a land bound one. After arriving at a friends house in Northern Wisconsin for along weekend hoping I might get in a few rides, I untied all the ropes holding my old f2 Comet Slalom to the roof of my truck. Left my keys in the truck in this private driveway. Went down to boathouse to see everyone and have a beer. About an hour later, another friend comes down and said he used my truck to go on a beer run. I asked if he took off the windsurfer and he looked at me quite puzzled when I told him it was untied. Apparently the thing stuck to the roof of the truck the whole way! He drove about 10 miles down the highway at 60 MPH! No ropes whatsoever. I used to travel with the bow upside down and facing forward. Last time I leave a windsurfer untied. Very lucky.

First worst: 18 months in, went out in 30+ gusty frigid winter conditions that I had no business being out in. Fell off, gear ran away in wind and ebb current. I swam back in (not very far) and was numb by the time I got back. Carrying VHF, radioed USCG to notify of gear adrift but sailor OK. They spotted it but were unable to approach due to shallow water. Lost gear.

Second worst: same trapped under sail by harness lines tale told by others. Twice.

Third worst: hit on head by mast, saw blue stars. Immediately went to the shop and bought a helmet. Got hit in face subsequently. Helmet and Seaspecs took the impact, leaving me with a mild shiner rather than a fractured orbit.

Most painful: took mast across back and side in light winds. Rib injury was second worst pain exceeded only by surgery. Off the water for five weeks. Slept in windsurf harness sans hardware, to shield and stabilize ribs.

Silliest: took mast in face on Kauai years ago. Vacation pics included X-rays. ER staff laughed at me and I laughed with them. Net result: better breathing R side. Do it yourself rhinoseptoplasty for $270 for X-rays and Hawaii ER obligatory tetanus shot.

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